Filing cabinet equipment for machine shops



Aug. 28, 1951 .1. F. SHEEAN 2,565,734

FILING CABINET EQUIPMENT FOR MACHINE SHOPS Filed Jan. 17, 1949 2Sheets-Sheet 1 IN V EN TOR. )a ZfQ/M.

I am 2 2 W Aug. 28, 1951 J, SHEEAN 2,565,784

FILING CABINET EQUIPMENT FOR MACHINE SHOPS Filed Jan. 17, 1949 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 28, 1951 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICEFILING CABINET EQUIPNIENT FOR MACHINE SHOPS Jack F. Sheean, Bloomington,Ill. Application January 17, 1949, Serial No. 71,337

2 Claims. 1

This invention relates to filing equipment and more particularly to animproved gasket filing rack for use in machine and automotive shops.

An object of my invention is the provision of a gasket rack in which theseveral trays or drawers are provided with floating stops so arranged asto permit the drawers to be opened or withdrawn from either side of therack.

Another object of the invention is to provide a filing drawer having aperforated bottom to receive adjustable pegs for segregating varioussizes of gaskets.

A further object of this invention is the pro vision of a perforatedfiling drawer containing adjustable label holders positioned within thedrawer in accordance with the arrangement of contained objects.

Still other objects and advantages will become apparent from thefollowing description of the present invention illustrated in theaccompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a filing cabinet embodying myinvention and showing the twoway operation of the drawers.

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on line 22 of Fig. 3 and showing adrawer in a fully open position.

Figure 3 is a vertical section of a drawer and its suspension taken online 33 of Fig. 2.

Figure 4 is an elevation of an adjustable peg used in carrying out theinvention.

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a label holder for use within thedrawers.

Figure 6 is a sectional View taken on line GE of Fig. 3 and showing adrawer in the closed position.

Similar reference characters in the several fig.- ures represent similarparts.

In the parts department of large automotive repair concerns and machineshops individual units such as gaskets are customarily stored in longparallel rows of filing cabinets. Frequently in the procurement ofseveral difierent items at a time it becomes necessary for the stockclerk to go around a long row to reach the front of the adjacentcabinets and remove the next desired item from a drawer. Obviously, thisprocedure requires more time for filling orders and results in thewasting of the valuable time of skilled workers waiting to be suppliedwith parts. Any

attempt to increase the number of supply clerks to prevent a jam duringunexpected rush periods invariably results in the clerks getting in eachothers way when filling orders and in uneconomical idleness during slackperiods.

With the use of cabinets such as I have shown at ill in Fig. 1, thefiling drawers can be pulled out from either side of the rack so thatwhen long rows of cabinets are used access to the drawers may be hadfrom either side thus avoiding passing around a rack or stack to obtaina desired item. It will thus be seen that it is often possible for aclerk to operate from a single corridor in procuring several differentitems required to fill a given order.

The cabinet it! consists of a metal framework covered at the sides andends with sheet metal facing H. The upper portion of the cabinet isprovided with any desired number of horizontal shelves !2 divided bypartitions it into individual pigeon-holes of predetermined sizes inaccordance with the stock items to be stored therein. The lower portionof the cabinet comprises a series of horizontal drawers or trays it.While the depth of the individual drawers is merely a design feature tobest accommodate the parts filed therein, it is preferable in thestorage of gaskets to make the majority of a depth of approximately 3%.inches and to provide at least three deeper drawers of varying sizes upto 6% inches.

Each drawer has a bottom section 55 rimmed b side panels It and endpanels ll. The and panels project beyond the sides, as at Hi, to coverthe space occupied by the mounting elements and improve the appearanceof the cabinet. A label holder l9 and a central handle 28 are providedon the outer face of each end panel as shown in Fig. 1. This duplicationof hardware assists in the efficient operation of the drawer from eitherside of the cabinet.

lhe effective two-way operation of the filing drawer comprising mypresent invention is made possible by the novel mounting means best seenin Figs. 2, 3 and 6 of the drawings. For each drawer to be accommodated,the opposite sides of the filing case have respectively attached to theinner faces 2! thereof a pair of projecting hubs 22. These hubs eachcarry a ball bearing roller 23 and are located near the vertical edgesof the side panels. Cooperating with each pair of supporting rollers 23is a channel bar 24 fixed to the outer face of the side panel it of thedrawer. This channel bar has an outwardly projecting lower flange 25which rests directly on the roller 23 and an upper guide flange 25.

A transverse channel bar 21, welded to the face 2| of the cabinet,projects inwardly and fits within the flanges of the drawer channel bar24 as shown in Fig. 3. The upper flange 23 of the cabinet channel bar isso positioned with respect to the supporting rollers as to lie directlybeneath the slidable flang 26. The proximity of these latter flanges isprecisely determined to permit the intended guiding function withouttransferring the weight of the drawer from the antifriction supportingrollers 23. This feature obviously affords an easier sliding operationof the drawer.

As best seen in Fig. 2, the lower flange 29 of the smaller channel baris spaced from the flange 25 on the drawer and provides a track for afloating stop roller 39. When the drawer is opened, this floating stopis moved along the track 29 by a projecting follower 3| which is weldedto the web of the drawer channel bar 2 3. The outward movement of thedrawer is terminated by a second projecting lug or stop 32 welded belowthe level of follower 3! to the web of the cabinet channel bar 21. Whenthe floating member 30 contacts the stop 32, the follower is preventedfrom further outward progression and in turn averts accidental releaseof the drawer from the cabinet. It will be apparent from Fig. 2 that bylifting the inner end of the open drawer the follower 3| may travel overthe roller 38 and the drawer can be completely removed from the cabinetshould occasion arise for repair or cleaning of the filing unit.

It will of course be understood from the drawings that the welded stopand follower arrangement described above is the same at both ends of theunit thereby allowing each drawer in the cabinet to be operated fromeither end with equal efliciency and case.

In order to prevent the drawer from overriding the closed position whenvigorously shut, I have provided a detent 33 near each end of the flange25 which moves with the drawer. Thes detents are spaced similarly to thesupporting rollers 23 so that, as the ends of the'drawer become flushwith the end faces of the cabinet, each detent will be engaged with itsrespective roller and so held by the weight of the drawer and itscontents. Since the detents 33 are substantially shallow in form, asshown in Fig. 6, excessive force is not required to reopen the drawer.

The bottom section of each drawer is perforated with a pattern of holes35 preferably punched on one inch centers. These holes are adapted toreceive adjustable pegs 34 such as shown in Fig. 4. Each peg consists ofa cylindrical shaft 36 provided with an abutment collar 3! near itslower end. The end of the shaft below the collar 31 is threaded as at 38to receive a holding nut 39 as shown in Fig. 3. With this structure, thpegs are thus adjustable in the bottom of the drawer to separate andhold the various size gaskets or other objects filed therein.

For convenience and accuracy in locating gaskets or other articleswithin the drawer an adjustable label holder 20 (Fig. 5) may bepositioned in the vicinity of each different siz article. The labelholder has a pair of openings 4i so spaced as to permit their alinmentwith holes in the bottom of the drawer. Small machine bolts (not shown)may be placed in these alined openings to removably secure the labelholder at any desired location within the drawer.

The bottom of the open compartments it in the upper portion of thecabinet may have standard perforations, special punching, or may be leftblank in accordance with the intended use of each compartment. Wheredesirable, the adjustable pegs and label holders may also b used in thecompartments having perforated shelves.

In the operation of a filing drawer embodying my invention a requirednumber of segregating pegs are secured to the perforated drawer bottomin a manner to afford best utilization of space in storing gaskets or thlike. An adjustable label holder is attached near each pile of gasketswith the enclosed label printing reversely duplicated so as to be easilyobserved from either end of the cabinet from which the drawer might beoperated.

The weight of the drawer is carried by the oppositely disposed pairs ofanti-friction rollers 23 upon which rest the lower flanges of thechannel bars on the sides of the drawer. The detents 33 formed in theselower flanges provide a holding means for retaining the drawer in theclosed position.

The two-way operation of each drawer is permitted by the novel stoparrangement consisting of a floating stop 30 which freely moves alongthe lower flange of the cabinet channel bar until confronted by a stoplug 32 welded to the fixed structure of the cabinet. The arrestedfloating stop in turn opposes further outward movement of the offsetfollower 3! secured to the inner end of the open drawer therebypreventing accidental removal of the drawer. Since the movable followersand fixed stop lugs are offset, the drawer may be opened from theopposite side of the cabinet and limited in its outward movement by thesame floating stops cooperating with a second pair of lugs and followersoppositely disposed from those mentioned above.

From the foregoing description of my invention, it will be seen that Ihave devised a simply constructed filing drawer which may be operatedfrom either side of a rack and in which the stored parts may besystematically segregated and labeled. It will be appreciated that themove ment and disorder obviated by this filing equipment will result inthe saving of costly labor and time unnecessarily expended inconventional stock supplying systems.

While a preferred form of the invention has been shown and described, itwill be understood that variations in details of form may be madewithout departure from the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a filing cabinet a drawer having a channel member extending alongeach side thereof, the flanges of said channel member projectingoutwardly of the drawer sides, a second channel at each side of thedrawer secured to the filing cabinet and having flanges fitting withinthe flanges of said drawer channel member, rollers fixed to the cabinetand adapted to contact the lower flanges of said drawer channels tosupport the drawer, a roller member freely supported on the lower flangof each cabinet channel, stop lugs adapted to abut said roller membersecured to the web portions of the drawer channels and cabinet channelsat each end thereof, the cabinet channel lug lying in a plane offsetvertically from the plane of the drawer channel lugs.

2. In a filing cabinet having drawers operable from either end, a drawerhaving a channel member extending along each side thereof, the flangesof said channel member projecting outwardly of the drawer sides, asecond channel at each side of the drawer secured to the filing cabinetand having flanges fitting within the flanges of said drawer channelmember, rollers fixed to the cabinet below said channels and adapted tocontact the lower flanges of said drawer channels to support th drawer,detents formed at the ends of the lower flanges of said drawer channelto engage said fixed roller whereby the drawer is re- I leasably held ina closed position, a free roller resting on the lower flange of eachcabinet channel, stop lugs adapted to abut said free rollers said lugsbeing secured to the web portions of the drawer channels and cabinetchannels at each end thereof, said lugs being positioned within thevertical confines of the cabinet channel flanges and the cabinet channellugs lying in a plane off set vertically from the plane of the drawerchannel lugs.

JACK F. SHEEAN.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are oLrecord in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 591,935 Quackenboss Oct. 19, 1897771,877 Kuebler Oct. 11, 1904 1,019,983 McGaughey Mar. 12, 19121,135,235 Weiss Apr. 13, 1915 1,736,108 Anderson t a1 Nov. 19, 19292,378,419 Loeb et a1 June 19, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date136,327 Switzerland Nov. 15, 1929

